The Art of Enjoying The Burn

After inspecting my ankle, the doctor told me to strengthen it by doing a hundred calf raises a day. I try to do them whenever a few minutes present themselves: when soup is heating, coffee is brewing, or something is downloading.

After a few dozen reps, the calves really start to burn. I hadn’t done calf raises for years, and it turns out my relationship to that burning is very different than it used to be. Having done a fair bit of weight training since then, I hadn’t quite realized that I now enjoy the burning sensation of fatiguing muscles. I’ve come to know it as the feeling that goes with getting stronger.

I used to hate this same feeling. It was the feeling of slogging through the final laps in gym glass, dying to hear the buzzer go. It was the feeling of awkwardly holding up a plank while I waited for my dad to put in all the screws.

Interestingly, the physical side of this muscle-burn feeling is the same as it ever was. It’s still uncomfortable. It’s still a relief when I can stop and rest. But my psychological relationship to it has completely reversed.

Instead of trying to escape from, ignore, or stop the burning, as I once did in Phys Ed class, I settle into it willingly, like the heat from a sauna. I let it build and intensify as I push on, without trying to defend against it, and that intensity is exhilarating. Even though it burns, it feels like strength, capability, progress.

I guess that’s what all those 1980s television aerobics instructors meant when they commanded us to “Feel the burn!” If you’re going to be making progress, you’re going to be feeling a burn. So you might as well come to it willingly, embracing it as the intense feeling of making long-term gains, rather than a punishing side-effect we want to feel as little of as possible.

There seems to be an equivalent “burn” with all forms of personal boundary-pushing, a tension or discomfort that comes with all attempts to reach higher-hanging fruit. Getting anywhere with public speaking entails walking and talking through the burn of nerves. Creative work entails the burn of completing mediocre pieces of work, and showing them to people. Entrepreneurship entails the burn of working under the risk of failure and rejection.

In every endeavor that isn’t already easy for you, progress requires you to move into certain uncomfortable feelings with regularity. So it makes sense, if you can, to interpret those feelings as good, rewarding, and reassuring—even though they aren’t, in and of themselves, pleasant.

To do that we have to recognize the burn as it happens, and remember to let ourselves dwell in it as we carry on our work, without our usual contentiousness toward it.

As the burn becomes more familiar, you start to find a certain second-level pleasure in it. The burn can feel good, but not if you still resent it. I’ve brought this perspective to weights for a long time now, but recently I’m trying to “feel the burn” on purpose in other areas.

Lo and behold, there’s a burn everywhere I look. I experience a psychological “burn” whenever I carry on writing an article that feels stuck or bogged down. It feels hard, intense, not quite safe. Part of me is dying to pull the ripcord: File – Save – Exit. But another part of me is excited to be wading through this new, seemingly forbidden territory.

The burn intensifies every time I stride a little further than normal—when I decide, for example, to give an article another half hour beyond the point at which I was about to quit. The more I let myself feel that particular burn, the more it makes me feel capable and confident rather than annoyed or discouraged. It’s still uncomfortable, but it quickly becomes exhilarating too.

When you make room for the burn, you realize that it’s not dangerous, just intense, and that intensity can energize the work once you stop seeing it as undesirable.

My Depth Year project is teaching me how much lies just beyond the point at which I usually pack in my efforts. That’s the secret to growth as far as I can tell: carry everything past the point you’d normally quit, even just a small distance, and do that regularly. Not a new idea, but I’d never thought much about how it feels to do that.

When you reach one of these points and press on, something in your mind or body burns. And of course it does—things are getting stretched, tested, rebuilt.

Think about how much hinges on our relationship to “the burn” in all its forms: the outcomes of our goals, our sense of what’s possible, our self-esteem, our incomes, our health, how good our “best” ends up being, and every other status quo in our personal lives.

When it comes to personal growth, in any avenue, new territory burns. Get to know the burn. Feel the burn. Enjoy the burn.

Dude you’ve got some seriously useful timing! I’m working on taking self-discipline from feeling like some big-bad adult is standing over me with a ruler, just waiting to beat the tar out of me for every little mistake – to finding the joy in it. Then you explore what feeling the burn really means in the same language I understand when addressing emotional healing. Step into it. See it for what it is, a symptom of making life better. Embrace it and allow yourself to feel the pain of it while loving what it gives you and loving yourself.

This piece reminds me of the time I took up jogging and jogged 2.5 thereabouts home from a park. The sense of exhilaration was amazing. Then I lit a fag. Mh, healthy living. Still, years later, I no longer smoke and am venturing on a weight loss plan. Feel the burn!

Thanks for posting this on a Monday morning. Two of my favorite feelings have always been the burn that comes with lifting just a little more weight or pushing myself to walk another mile and the soreness the day after that reminds me of what I accomplished. I’m in a place right now with lots of opportunities to feel the burn in other areas my life – writing, experimenting with a career change and watching my kids accept responsibility for themselves. I’ve recently been dousing any hint of burn in these areas as soon as I experience the tiniest bit of pain. I know that today will provide opportunities to experiment with pushing a little further. I also know from experience I can handle more. I just needed to be reminded of that. Thank you and have a great week.

What’s interesting is that every sort of work eventually reaches that point where your usual boundary starts tapping you on the shoulder. This is amazing when you start to see it as an offer to get better, right then and there. It’s so dependable.

Yeah I agree… that little fantasy we have about feeling relief can totally take over. Any time you’re on a treadmill, it’s easy to picture how much of a relief it would be to hit the stop button. I guess the trick is to train that as another reminder to embrace the burn and carry on, even for just a bit.

I have found meditation really helps with this, because feelings like boredom do happen, and the instruction is to see if you can let it sit there with you. Same with desires, aversions, minor discomfort, and anything else that happens when you try to sit still :)

Lovely article. I am currently listening to Jocko Willink’s audibook “Discipline Equals Freedom,” and this article came at a perfect time for me. Like you alluded to in your own past, most of my life I’ve run from “the burn” and dreaded it. By embracing it and owning it, and even seeking it, we can massively change the direction of our lives. So powerful yet so simple. Thank you for the eloquent description of personal growth, change and transformation!

oh my goodness, about an hour ago I was just thinking ‘there needs to be a book about how discipline is actually the greatest path to freedom’, or words to that effect. :) I shall investigate this one right now!

Thank you for this article, it is very timely for me. Although I am very accomplished at feeling the burn and pushing through on a physical level, on a work level this has been terrifying. I recently committed to being self-employed and doing consulting as well as a blogging business but although the work is enjoyable and exciting, the whole newness and uncertainty is terrifying. I had never likened the exercise burn to that felt in other sectors of my life. Your article reminds me that others experience these challenges and get through them. Thank you.

I agree with your post 100%. I was doing physical therapy a few months ago after a surgery and it definitely was harder in the beginning, but the feeling that you are improving, getting better and accomplishing things that I was not able to accomplish before was powerful. Just like in life, self-discipline and commitment is the key to be successful and to reach our goals and expectations.

Even you, David, must admit this is a strange Universe. Things just show up in your attention, like for me, another Raptitude article. I haven’t been reading you lately – I get the whole mindfulness thing. But “Feel the Burn” really drew me in, especially the application to anything in your life where you are trying to improve, not just physical – heck, I’m on the treadmill 45 minutes a day, 6 days a week already. I’m used to that. But I need to work on my weight again, sigh. Reached goal of 195 at Thanksgiving, but today at 208. So, eat better, eat less, watch my calories. Feel the burn!

this came so perfectly timed for me – i have been wondering why i am so prone to starting things then not completing them, and I think it has a lot to do with this ‘feeling the burn’ thing – I used to do a lot of really strenuous exercise where I frequently felt that burn, but these days my exercise is far more leisurely walking, and really gentle, balancing hatha yoga. I rarely push myself in that physical way anymore, and i am sure this reflects into the rest of my life. I’m still processing exactly where my thoughts are going with this, but know that this post will be part of my reflections, thank you for another superlative piece of writing!

I got to a similar understanding, but with the opposite temperature! The “enlightenment” came while walking outside in severe winter weather. I found myself scurrying, hurrying, head bent, hating every moment. Then I thought, Face it! and lifted my eyes. Sure it was cold but what a different sense of self that brought me! Now I walk into the wind instead of shrinking from it. -Kate

The burn I experienced is almost existential. That sense of being in the moment that became more and more accessible through meditation, and the resulting cascade of being with the experiences, self inquiry, and finding something, but losing a lot (false beliefs). It can be disorienting. Burns, but not quite.

As a long time jiu-jitsu practitioner, I am very “comfortable with being uncomfortable” and either pushing through hard things or slowing down and embracing them. Psychologically, I can do this as well with projects – personal, academic and career wise.
I can’t tell if I’m not trying hard enough or if I think I’m letting go of negative feelings but I’m really not, but when it comes to anything else physical aside from rolling around on the ground choking people and bending limbs, I hate it. Grappling for hours? Great. Jogging for warm-ups? The heat from it? I have such a hard time, and try all sorts of mental tricks and methods to not hate it. I’ll have to look at some of the things other people do here and try more.

Hi David,
I’m a big fan of your writing! Like you, I am heavily interested in practicing and studying mindfulness meditation. Your post here is yet another benefit of the practice that I have noticed relatively recently. As you mention, “feeling the burn” applies to all facets of life; physical and mental alike.
In reflecting on my own experience on this subject I noticed the arena of generosity or honest compliments and how easy it is to go without them for fear of putting oneself out there. But going that extra mile can be very beneficial for oneself and another although it can feel uncomfortable.
A quote that comes to mind from Einstein on the subject goes something like “It’s not that I’m so smart. It’s just that I stay with the problems longer.”
Keep up the good work!

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Hi David,
I'm a big fan of your writing! Like you, I am heavily interested in practicing and studying mindfulness meditation. Your post here is yet another benefit of the practice that I have noticed relatively recently. As you mention, "feeling the burn" applies to all facets of life; physical...

oh my goodness, about an hour ago I was just thinking 'there needs to be a book about how discipline is actually the greatest path to freedom', or words to that effect. :) I shall investigate this one right now!

"In every endeavor that isn’t already easy for you, progress requires you to move into certain uncomfortable feelings with regularity."
I think this is one of the core ideas of deliberate practice. You only improve in a skill if you are uncomfortable while doing it. If it's fun, you are probably...

As a long time jiu-jitsu practitioner, I am very "comfortable with being uncomfortable" and either pushing through hard things or slowing down and embracing them. Psychologically, I can do this as well with projects - personal, academic and career wise.
I can't tell if I'm not trying hard enough or...

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